Iraq bomb toll rises to seven

A suicide truck bomber attacked a police station in one of Iraq’s major oil hubs today, killing at least seven people and injuring 13 in an area home to many refinery workers and engineers, police said.

The attack in Beiji was at least the third deadly suicide attack in 24 hours in Iraq and came a day after a key oil pipeline in the northern city was struck by an insurgent bomb.

The bomber approached the police station in an explosives-laden truck about three miles north of the city centre, a police official said.

The official said five policemen and two civilians were killed in the blast, which damaged nearby homes and sent shards of glass flying through the air.

“The windows of my house shattered and three of my family members were injured,” said Jassim Salih, who lives nearby.

Another witness, Falih Salim, said he rushed toward the area after hearing the explosion and saw the bodies of two burned guards.

“The scene was so horrible that I ran away.” Salim said.

Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, houses northern Iraq’s largest oil refinery, and serves as a key transfer point for crude oil being exported out of Iraq. Attacks on the Kirkuk-Beiji pipeline cluster have been infrequent in recent months, with some 300 US soldiers and more than 2,000 Iraqi troops guarding the zone.

Violence is generally down throughout Iraq, largely due to the influx of US troops that began last February, the rise of the anti-al-Qaida groups and a freeze on activities by the Mahdi Army, ordered by the militia’s leader, the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

But with the lost of many former sanctuaries, al-Qaida groups are believed to be moving northward.

On Wednesday, US military commanders told visiting US Defence Secretary Robert Gates that they need more troops to confront al-Qaida fighters who have been pushed out of the Baghdad region.